


new horizons

by dracoon



Series: Past Commissions [3]
Category: Psychopath Diary (TV)
Genre: Gen, Inwoo plays ACNH!, Other, cries, he's learning to make friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:06:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24180292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dracoon/pseuds/dracoon
Summary: Inwoo receives a new item under house arrest to play with.He starts learning how it's like to be loved and cared about.Commission for NoxDWN!
Relationships: Seo Inwoo/love and care
Series: Past Commissions [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1780462
Comments: 5
Kudos: 19





	new horizons

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NoxDWN](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoxDWN/gifts).



Inwoo never really played video games. 

He'd never particularly had the time to before, anyway. Working as the co-CEO of his company was exhausting work, and combined with his...unorthodox hobby, he hadn't even spared them a second glance. 

Now, however, being trapped at home with a maimed leg and nowhere to go, he'd been spending his time pacing around the house like a chained beast, bored and annoyed about matters. He'd bought himself a Switch in the meantime, considering how things had been- and he'd been recommended a strange new game named "Animal Crossing: New Horizons" by the website he'd purchased it from. 

It seemed easy enough to get the hang of, all things considered. The game indulged him in living a fantasy of being free and sailing away to an uninhabited island- until he realised that he hadn't sailed to the island alone, and he was accompanied by _animals_. Talking, overly friendly animals that kept trying to get his attention, akin to a certain human-shaped golden retriever he'd been smitten with not too long ago.

Inwoo scowled as the pastel pink sheep in a colorful sweater kept talking to him, begging him to set his tent down for him while a peppy yellow rabbit with a mask around her eyes prattled around the weed-covered island. They irked him- constantly checking up on him, offering him presents, and begging him to run errands for them. He didn't even bother remembering their names, electing to avoid them as much as possible. 

They were just masses of pixels on a screen, he rationalised, all while playing the game in bed to pass the time. They didn't actually care about him. It was merely a gimmick to appeal to children, after all, so they couldn't have these pixel animals say overly mean things or act apathetic. 

Even then, Inwoo found himself returning to the game, day after day, weeding his island diligently, planting trees and watering his flowers. It was just a routine to keep his mind sharp, he argued to himself. Anything to break the numbing cycle of being trapped in his house day in and day out. 

The appearance of an axe he could use pleased Inwoo greatly: _finally_ , he could deal with those perky, nosey animals that kept trying to talk to him. He'd crept up on the sheep again, the strange sheep who spoke in slang and irked him about his fitness regime- but when he swung his axe at him, the axe merely bounced harmlessly off his body as he turned around to start talking to his sprite about the weather.

Inwoo's grip on the controllers tightened until his knuckles had turned white. The animals were immortal, or at least immune to his swings and attacks. Perhaps his sprite was just too weak, and could not do anything beside manual labor on the island. He'd nearly hurled his Switch in defeat, but knowing how difficult they were to get replaced, he quickly attempted to calm himself and relax, not allowing this minor setback to bother him. 

With this nigh-mindless routine on hand, Inwoo found himself adhering to a schedule again.

Waiting for the raccoons' shop to open was 8am. The porcupines who sold clothing was at 9pm. A boar came by on Sunday mornings to offer him turnips, which he found fascinated as a microcosm of the stock market. Occasionally, a beaver or a chameleon were caught trespassing, and often purchased his insects or fish at inflated prices, something Inwoo took malicious glee in. 

He especially adored individually donating insects to torment the owl curator in his museum. Watching the owl whine in fright made Inwoo's day. It got to the point where Inwoo would set insects he'd not donated yet and spaced it out daily, simply so he could sit in malicious glee about the owl fearfully recounting supposedly repulsive facts about what he'd just given him. 

Time flew by, and it hadn't taken long before his birthday came around. Inwoo frankly never remembered his birthday of February 19th. There was nothing to celebrate, to him, and he'd mindlessly inputted it into the algorithm when he'd been asked.

The day had started without much fanfare, Inwoo waking up to the same numb pain of his left ankle as he wandered to the kitchen to get himself some breakfast. While he picked at his eggs, he'd noticed the sheep again in front of his sprite's house, insisting he had to follow him. Without giving him the chance to protest, he'd been given a cutscene- and he nearly choked on his food seeing the scene reappear into that of the sheep, the rabbit and another duck villager in suits and little party hats, singing him the birthday song and insisting he'd have to blow the candles out. 

He stared at the glowing candles on his screen for a few moments, incredulous and then quietly amused. What a cheap gimmick, he sighed, pressing a button to blow out the candles before watching the animals clap eagerly in the background while popping party poppers. Inwoo felt strangely warm, however, seeing this occur and putting a hand on his forehead to check he was ill. 

They were just pixels. Why did his eyes sting, and why were his hands shaking as they insisted he play with the pinata they'd set up for him? 

Stop...crying...He knew this was fake, but even then, his body shuddered with emotions he'd thought he'd repressed as the celebrations went on. 

He wiped his eyes with a fist, trying to stop the quiver of his lower lip when the sheep came up to him to offer him some cupcakes to share with the "other villagers who weren't able to make it". 

It was far too hard as his vision blurred seeing what the sheep- he finally checked his name, Dom, chirped to him that he'd be "happy to celebrate all of his birthdays for the years to come, and he hoped they'd be friends forever too to celebrate". 

**Author's Note:**

> This is entirely not because I've been playing too much ACNH or anything. 
> 
> [Commission me!](https://ko-fi.com/tadpolewrites)


End file.
